Liberals betray their principles

Liberalism has always advocated for the rights of due process, the rights of the accused and the right to free speech, but lately anyone defending those rights on principle are denounced and reviled for aligning themselves with racists, homophobes and criminals, says Fredrik deBoer on his blog.

2 Responses

The referenced article is better written and thought out than your typical wing-nut nonsense, but it’s still wing-nut nonsense. The terms “liberal” and “conservative” really don’t mean much of anything anymore. It’s clear from his blog post that he’s talking about “left-wing”, not liberal, and really just about your nuttier variety of left-wing. He’s using a form of the “straw man argument” that’s particularly dishonest since he’s actually sliming left-wingers by ridiculing the more ridiculous type of left-winger, then trying to claim the left-wingers are liberal, which they aren’t.

The referenced article also falls apart logically. It’s not a violation of free speech for a group of people to call for the firing of somebody who said something offensive. Only governments can violate somebody’s right to free speech in a meaningful way. The group of people calling for the firing are just exercising their rights to free speech.